RUSH: Do you remember the first Fox debate? The first Fox Republican debate, and specifically the opening questions of Donald Trump, who, by the way, Trump has announced that he’s gonna live tweet the Democrat debate tonight. Trump is gonna have more people reading him on Twitter than are gonna be watching this debate. Speaking of which, have you noticed that CNN is downplaying the expectation of ratings tonight?
If you’ve missed that, don’t doubt me. They’re downplaying the ratings. It’s like Les Moonves of CBS is back again today talking about how ratings on TV, they’re not as important as they used to be. It’s tough to find them. Man, what a built-in excuse for not getting any ratings, and that is to say that they don’t matter anymore.
Now, here’s CNN, and they’ve been salivating. They’ve been chomping at the bit. They’re going wall-to-wall here from the Wynn Resort in Vegas promoting this debate and going overboard with countdowns. And everybody that works at CNN is seemingly in Vegas, seemingly on the ground at the Wynn Resort just hyping this thing and promoting it out the wazoo and then telling everybody, “Well, don’t look for the kind of ratings Fox got.” Why not? I think expectations ought to be raised. After all, who’s in this debate? The smartest woman in the freaking world is in this debate.
Hillary Clinton is in this debate. What do you mean ratings are gonna be down? Shouldn’t ratings be skyrocketing? This is the presumptive Democrat nominee. This is the next president of the United States, according to CNN and The Politico and the New York Times, NBC, ABC, CBS, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, take your pick, she’s the next president. What do you mean ratings are gonna be down? I think expectations need to be raised, not lowered, and if Hillary Clinton fails to deliver, that’s her problem.
If I ran CNN I sure as heck would not be making excuses before the thing even starts. But that’s what they’re doing. And they’re admitting that this field of candidates, by the way, which is all white. Even Van Jones, the acknowledged communist from the Regime — he got thrown out of the Regime in a controversial thing. When he was discovered to be a communist they had to get rid of him. He couldn’t hide it anymore, so he’s at CNN. Just like environmentalism is the new home of out of work communists. So is CNN. So he’s over there, and he’s talking about how it’s horrible, it’s very bad, whitest field since 1992. There’s one woman and no people of color. You look at the Republican lineup and you have diversity across the board. And of course it never counts for anything.
But, anyway, seriously, folks, I’m being dead serious. I know it sounds funny, I’m a naturally funny human being, but I’m being dead serious. CNN ought to be raising expectations. If you run the place, you got the big Democrat debate, it’s overdue, supposedly it’s the most popular party in the country, right? Mrs. Clinton, the most popular woman, smartest woman. I mean, you’ve got the big draw, and you’re downplaying it? If I ran CNN I’d been hyping this thing. I mean, they’re hyping it by hyping their coverage. You know what I saw them do?
You know what I saw on CNN? Have you ever watched a television documentary on anything and they’ll have cut-away interviews with people in the documentary with a black background, looks like the Charlie Rose set, and they’ll be talking about their role in the documentary you’re watching. They’ve been doing this with their reporters. Dana Bash and Anderson Cooper have been cast in stand-alone interviews explaining what they’re going to do tonight, how they’re going to do it, what they’re going to expect, how they’re going to drag whatever out of whoever. I mean, it’s a total exercise in narcissism. It’s “watch this debate because of us.”
But they’re downplaying expectations with the smartest woman in the world, and I think they ought to be building. I’m being facetious ’cause of course they can’t build up ’cause she is not a draw, she can’t sell any books, she can’t draw a crowd anywhere, is what they know. That’s why they’re relying on trying to get people to tune in to watch Anderson Cooper and Dana Bash and whoever else. I don’t even know who else, Jacob Tapper, maybe. If I were CNN, I’d start listing reasons why Hillary’s debate ratings will exceed Trump’s.
For example, Hillary Clinton’s being richly supported by most of Hollywood for decades. Hollywood influences American culture like no other. They’ve had all this time to promote her. Trump just had a single reality TV show. Hillary has Hollywood, okay? Hillary Clinton owns the entire education system. She owns all federalized union workers. She owns most of the media. Smartest woman on earth. Republicans are conducting a War on Women. I mean, it’s made to order. Except everybody knows that the vast majority of people tuning in tonight are gonna be looking for a car crash. I mean, really. I think it’s just juicy.
And back to the way Fox opened the debate with questions of Trump. You remember that? “Mr. Trump, you have said the following about women,” blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, just to show you what you will not see on the Democrat debate tonight, we prepared a little “If Only” parody.
ANNOUNCER: We now join CNN’s live Democratic presidential debate, brought to you by our sponsors, Prostate Magic and the League of Left-handed Transgender Voters. Secretary Clinton is giving her opening statement.
HILLARY: And I want to thank CNN for hosting this debate so that we as candidates can address the issues that are so important to the American people. I look forward to your questions.
MODERATOR: Thank you, Secretary Clinton. Now, our first question of the night.
QUESTIONER: Mrs. Clinton, let me mention seven names: Paula Jones, Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey, Gennifer Flowers, Monica Lewinsky, Beth Dozoretz, and Denise Rich. Now, tell us, how can you look at anyone with a straight face and talk to them about family values when it takes a village to satisfy your husband?
HILLARY: Okay, um, um, uh.
ANNOUNCER: This was CNN.
RUSH: Just to show you the differences in the way the debates happened. It’s a totally legitimate question. I mean, if it’s legit to ask Trump about the things that he has said about women in the past, why is it not relevant to ask Hillary about her husband? He’s gonna be the co-president or the vice president or first man, first gentleman, whatever. And you’ve got reports now, the bimbos are resurfacing. Gennifer Flowers is out there claiming she’s got a secret. The only reason she’s alive is she’s got a secret in a safe-deposit box.
Did you see that? Yeah, it was at World Net Daily. She’s got some secret about Clinton in a safe-deposit box. I mean, I’m adding that, the reason she’s alive. She’s got some secret that she’s kept close to the vest for just this kind of moment in time in the future. Don’t know what it is. It’s a highly relevant question.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Another question for Hillary, since I know that nobody’s gonna ask the Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broaddrick question. I know that’s not gonna happen tonight. So here’s a question for Hillary that would be legit and could well be asked. Well, it won’t be, but, I mean, it suffices.
“The Clinton Foundation, Mrs. Clinton, has taken million dollars of dollars from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia strictly enforces a legal system in which discrimination against women is the official law of the land. Women are treated as property in Saudi Arabia, which has donated to your campaign. Women are not permitted to leave the home without their husband’s permission in Saudi Arabia, which has donated to your foundation. Women are not permitted to drive in Saudi Arabia, which has donated to your foundation. A woman’s testimony in a Sharia court of law is worth half a man’s. In other words, a woman is presumed to be lying half the time.
“Women are imprisoned, beaten, and killed for violations of Islamic law in Saudi Arabia. Women who engage in sex outside marriage are subject to the death penalty. Women who are raped can be severely injured legally by their husbands. The premise being that it’s the Saudi woman’s fault for being raped because she obviously violated Islamic law. Women who renounce Islam are subject to the death penalty. Mrs. Clinton, what is this War on Women you say that the Republicans are conducting, when all of this happens in Saudi Arabia, which is donating handsomely to you and your husband’s foundation?”
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Robin Roberts on Good Morning America today was talking about Bill Clinton and whether or not he was gonna be in Las Vegas. Got his wife there, big Democrat debate, where’s Der Schlick Meister?
ROBERTS: Former President Bill Clinton, he is there in Las Vegas with the front-runner. He’s not expected to be in the room tonight.
RUSH: No, but I’ll betcha he’s in town. He-he-he-he-he-he-he-he-he. Maybe out at the Bunny Ranch. Well, no, he wouldn’t pay for it. He’d be an honored guest. No, he’s not gonna be in the room, but he’ll be in town. Is there any doubt. Here’s Hillary. Last night I mentioned she went over to Trump’s hotel and tried to — I don’t know what you call this, harass or jab or tweak Trump. She’s down on the street shouting insults. He’s supposedly up in the hotel, enjoying some time off, supposed to be terribly frightened by what Hillary’s doing out there. This is what she said.
HILLARY: Some people think Mr. Trump is entertaining, but I don’t think it’s entertaining when someone insults immigrants, insults women. That is just unacceptable behavior.
RUSH: So how does Hillary Clinton get attention? She goes out and talks about Donald Trump. Again, I want to remind you, it’s a point that I made two hours ago in the first hour of today’s busy broadcast, and it is that CNN has been downplaying expectations, ratings expectations for their debate tonight. And I’m asking, “How do you do that? You’ve got Hillary Clinton. You have the next president of the United States on your network tonight. You have the presumptive Democrat nominee, the presumptive next president. You’ve got the smartest woman in the world, the former secretary of state, the wife of Bill Clinton. How do you get bigger than that? What are you doing downplaying your ratings expectations?”
I think CNN ought to be hyping this debate, building up expectations. Isn’t it up to Hillary to draw the crowd? I mean, these are people running for the presidency. Is not is it not up to them to be compelling and interesting enough that people want to tune in to watch? What CNN knows is, the numbers of this debate are not gonna even approach the numbers on a Republican debate and so they’re making excuses right off the top. And their excuses are to cover for the fact that nobody cares, and nobody’s interested in Hillary Clinton, other than to watch maybe a train wreck or somehow be entertained in some other way.
And Trump said he’s gonna live tweet the thing. I’ll bet you Trump’s Twitter feed has more participation and more interest and a bigger audience than CNN does from the debate. In fact, Trump’s live Twitter feed might help generate some audience. People have to watch the debate and then see what Trump says about it. This did not make Carol Costello happy over at CNN. She’s very, very snarky about Trump doing this.
COSTELLO: There was a tweet from Donald Trump, quote, “At the request of many and even though I expect it to be a very, very boring two hours, I will be covering the Democrat[ic] debate live on Twitter,” although he said Democrat debate because you know Republicans mean when they say Democrat.
RUSH: No, Democrat is what we mean. It’s not Democratic Party. It’s the Democrat Party. She’s all snarky about that.